The Great Bend Quicksilver softball team traveled to the 12-and-under gold state tournament in Emporia on a winning streak that included six championships.
The Quicksilver bested the Marysville Magic 9-5 to win the state tournament, which ran from July 15-17.
The win secured them a spot in the national tournament on Aug. 2-7 in St. Louis.
Great Bend finished the regular season with a record of 39-2 and won seven championships over the summer.
The Quicksilver started strong against their first opponent, the Parsons Hot Shots, scoring eight runs in the first inning and striking out three of the first four batters.
Great Bend finished the game 15-0 in the third inning.
Next, Great Bend faced the Derby Stix.
After three innings, the Quicksilver was up 1-0, but two runs in the fourth and three runs in the fifth gave them  a 6-0 lead.
With the lead, Great Bend relaxed on defense and allowing Derby to score four runs in the sicth inning.
The Quicksilver stifled the rally from the Stix, winning 6-4.
Great Bend faced Marysville for the first time in the championships and found itself down 2-0 going into the fifth inning.
In fact, the Quicksilver only had one baserunner in the game, until the sixth inning.
Brittnee Barber drew a walk, Moran Kottas reached base on a fielder’s choice and Lakin Funk got a base hit.
The Quicksilver were able to tie the game at two on RBIs from Morgan Michaelis and Ashlee Tingle.
Marysville scored another run in the sixth inning on errors, but Great Bend came back to win 4-3.
Funk got the game-winning RBIs, driving in Kottas and Barber.
“The girls have grown so much as ball players this year and they get down, they know what their jobs are and they do them,” Coach Ron Bell said. “The girls weren’t worried about being behind, they knew they needed to step up and score runs and it had to be this inning.”
The team then made quick work of the Pink Panthers, winning 6-2 with Karisa Schremmer posting 10 strikeouts and securing a spot in the championship game.
Once again, Great Bend found itself facing Marysville and once again, it found itself down early, giving up three runs in the first inning.
Batting around the line up, the Quicksilver posted six runs to win the championship.
Pitchers Karisa Schremmer, Allison Panning and Hannah Honomichl combined for 42 strikeouts and only one walk during their time on the mound at the state tournament.